Member of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, Dr Neil Hudson MP, stood up in the House of Commons to support Government plans to give environmental regulators the power to impose unlimited fines for water polluters.
Speaking in a debate on Environmental Protection, Dr Hudson championed the Conservative Government for the new measures – noting this is the first Government to take “clear and strong action” to hold water companies to account.
In the Chamber the Environment Secretary laid out plans to roll out unlimited fines, make it easier for regulators to bring forward penalties and for moneys raised through penalties to go into a new water restoration fund.
Dr Hudson has long fought to improve the health of the UK’s waters, consistently pushing for action in parliamentary speeches, lobbying key Ministers behind the scenes and providing expert analysis while exploring the issue on the EFRA Committee. Most recently he quizzed Thames Water, Ofwat and the Water Minister in an emergency hearing on the state of the water industry’s infrastructure, finances and sewage management.
Indeed, plans being implemented by Government were direct recommendations from the Conservative Environment Network of which Dr Hudson is a key member of the parliamentary caucus.
Speaking afterwards, Dr Neil Hudson MP, said:
“Our Conservative Government is the first in the UK’s history to turn the tide against unacceptable water pollution..
“Before the Conservatives came to power in 2010 storm overflow monitors were virtually non-existent and no previous government had taken action. Put simply, we have isolated the problem and I was proud to stand up in the Chamber to support the monumental fixes we are pressing ahead with.
“I’m proud to have led the way alongside my Conservative Environment Network colleagues and I will carry on to improve the health of our precious rivers, lakes and coastlines.”
The full exchange in Parliament, as reported by Hansard:
Dr Neil Hudson MP said:
“I very much welcome these Government measures. Last week, we on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee had an emergency session with Thames Water, Ofwat and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. We received strong confirmation that the regulators and the Environment Agency now have the teeth that they need to hold polluting water companies to account with unlimited fines or by stopping dividends being paid out.
“Does my right hon. Friend agree that this Conservative Government are the first Government to take clear and strong action, and that this is in strong contrast to some of the toxic rubbish that comes out especially from the Liberal Democrats, who, I notice, are not in the Chamber today? They seem to forget that, when they had a Water Minister during the coalition, they did nothing on this.”
Dr Thérèse Coffey, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, replied:
“My hon. Friend is absolutely right about these measures. By voting for them today—of course, they also need to go through the Lords—we will give our regulators all the tools that they need and that they have asked for to tackle this situation. He is right that it is a bit of a surprise that the Liberal Democrats are absent, but there we go. We will be able to remind people that, when Parliament was voting for this legislation, the Liberal Democrats were nowhere to be seen.”
